Schottenstein Homes

This has been the worst customer service experience of my life. My wife and I signed and paid our deposit on 4/2/21. We bought a four bedroom home in Schottenstein's Northlake Woods subdivision. We had just moved to the Columbus area from Washington, DC the day before. What has followed, and I will summerize below, has been a nightmare, and frankly the worst welcome to Ohio that anyone could ever give us.

The day we signed, Lisa in the on-site model home/office told us they were still estimating 6-8 months for completion, but honestly we should expect more like 8-9 months. In fact, one of the big selling points was that if we went with Schottenstein's preffered lender, we could lock in our mortgage rate for 10 months, and since the house would surely be done by then, our we would still get the historically low mortgage rate we qualified for. We were told that with the housing market being so tough for first time buyers that we could be in a new home before we would even be able to buy an existing home, and because of that locked in mortgage rate, there was no downsize to building. Obviously we didn't get our home in the 10 months, and by Jan '23, the newest date we have been quoted (we've been quoted quite a few different dates at this point), our mortgage rate is likely to have tripled.

Now it's Nov 2021, 7 months after we signed a contract & paid a 5-figure deposit, and Schottenstein finally breaks ground. At this point we are incredibly frustrated by the lack of communications outside of a couple form letters mailed to us. Calls go unanswered, emails go ignored. However, we watch this excavation and the cinder block basement walls go up incredibly fast, so we are enthused. We even hold out hope that maybe it can be ready by April - only 4-6 months after the date we were originally quoted.

Fast forward to April '22, a full year after we signed and forked over a small fortune, and nothing more is done. We drive out to Sunbury weekend after weekend to stare, with frustration and a deep sense of hopelessness, at a hole in the ground, still with for bare cinder block walls and a dirt floor. We continue to get no communication. Our real estate agent talks to someone at Schottenstein that tells him they've had to fire the building crew and start over, and that their priority has been other communities (what is unsaid is those are communities with more expensive homes), and frankly, we'll get the house when we get it. We should be happy they aren't raising the price of the house, and they have no obligation to to deliver it in a year, or 2 years, or even 3 years. Bottom line, we're screwed, and they know it. Hey, but they did say they think it will be ready around Thanksgiving - just 18 months after contract & handing over a sizable deposit.

In May the house gets framed out and a roof - wow, maybe things are turning around? But just like when the site got excavated, we saw some quick work, and then nothing. Nothing is happening, once again. Now, today, 6/20/22, we get an email telling us hopefully Jan 2023 - 20/21 months from April '21, and 10-15 months past when we were quoted. At this point, who would even believe that? There isn't a single reason to believe anything they tell us.

More:

Schottenstein built our foundation without our egress window. We asked for it, it was on the blueprints at our pre-construction meeting (we have the copy of the blueprint). But Schottenstein claims we didn't purchase it, despite the blueprint and the fact that we bought the taller basement and the roughed in plumbing - we obviously wanted to finish our basement - this was going to be my project.

Their vendors have been awful, as well. We tried to buy a nicer package of appliances than are included and I couldn't get a call back from either of the people at Ferguson appliances who can take my credit card payment. I literally have emails and call logs showing that I reached out for six straight months trying to get them thousands of dollars for the appliances, no return contact. Finally, we gave up and just took the included package.